


Merry Igmas

by SpiritScribe



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Bad Luck, Christmas, Divinmas, Gen, Silly, a gift, christmas kinda
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2019-12-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 18:48:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21973297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpiritScribe/pseuds/SpiritScribe
Summary: The thought came into my head and I thought I'd write it for the people in the Ignis Wump Discord as I am taking so long doing the others things I wanted to post there. This fic isn't a Wump but Ignis does end up having some bad luck.Noctis, Prompto and Gladio want to do something nice for Ignis for the Divinmus holiday but it somewhat backfires.
Kudos: 11





	Merry Igmas

Every year since the time Ignis began cooking he would prepare a Divinmas meal towards the end of the Winter season, for himself and Noct. This was separate to the rather more formal Royal event that Noct’s father hosted during the season as part of the Eos celebration of the Divine, where thanks was given to the Astrals and prayers for their continued aid through the coming new year. Even though Tenebrea was the originator of the festival, many other nations had their own spins on the event. The Lucian one being quite close to that of Tenebrea in some of the more formal aspects taken on by the most religious, but more decadent in other areas. Especially when it came to feasts. Niflheim on the other hand while allowing nations within its control to still preform their own ceremonies, had an alternate take on the holiday where the fallen Solheim was remembered and the greatness of humanity celebrated. Images of important human figures in Niflheim’s history – including that of the current Emperor – could be found in place of images of the Astrals.

Ignis had been educated on all of this and while he too took part in the celebrations hosted by King Regis in the Citadel, he’d recalled the smaller more private meals he’d enjoyed with his family. They were much more casual and had hints of the traditions from other areas. Such as thinking more on people close to you and not just the Astrals. Being thankful for the people around you was technically part of the Divinmas tradition. Though that was more along the line of thank the Astrals that destiny has allowed you to be with these people for this long. Also there was a thanks for the fact in the afterlife they would all be reunited. For families like his own, while the Astrals were given much reverence there was also a lot of stock put in doing all you could for the people you care about to make those bonds offered by divinity stronger through the power humans themselves held. Ignis had taken those teachings to heart and applied them lavishly to Noctis. 

Thus wanting to give the Prince a change of pace in the season and a more informal friendship celebration he had begun preparing a Divinmas meal on which ever evening happened to be free. These little two person parties had gotten more complex as Ignis’ cooking skills improved and expanded to include Gladio and then eventually Prompto.  
Now with a much busier schedule it was harder for Ignis to find free time but he always managed to make time for their celebration even if he ended up exhausted after the whole event. This had not gone unnoticed by his friends who came up a plan. Operation Merry Igmas; They’d finally have chance to thank Ignis for doing so much for them all the time. Noct especially wanted to do this because he felt he was always relying on Ignis for so much. They might as well try to give him a more relaxed evening at least once a year. They had to pull it off first.

While Noctis and Ignis were discussing dates for their celebration that year Noct brought up how he wanted to order in food for a change to give Ignis a bit of a break. Ignis had tried to argue that he enjoyed cooking for Noct and could always make more simple things if Noct was so concerned about his work flow. However Noctis insisted and Ignis wishing to please Noct eventually agreed. Perhaps it would be nice to have someone else be doing the cooking for once. Perhaps he might even avoid becoming a zombie the morning after the party.

This however conspired against the friends in an odd turn of fate. While Ignis was finishing up some paperwork in his office – thinking that he would be done in good time – there came a knock on his door. Looking up he called for the person to enter. It was one of the cooking staff; a meek girl but a hard worker. She had a look of desperation on her face.

“I’m sorry to bother you Mr. Scientia but we have a bit of a problem in the kitchens.” Her voice was soft but Ignis’ sharp ears caught every word.

He raised an eyebrow, “What’s happened that requires my assistance?”

The girl wrung the front of her apron between her hands, “One of our chefs was supposed to come in this afternoon to finish a special order but he’s suddenly taken ill and we can’t find anyone available to fulfil the order. It has some rather specialised items and the only other person is on holiday and won’t be able to get back in time.”

Ignis sighed and finished the request in his head. He was the only person the cooking staff would be comfortable enough to approach – seeing as he often intruded upon their kitchen over the years making things for Noct – that they knew had experience with cooking. A special order wasn’t something that could just be cancelled last minute like this and certainly not this time of year. It was no doubt for someone’s special evening.  
“How long do we have to prepare?”

The girl looked relieved and bowed, “We are quite short on time as this was rather sudden but we should get it to the recipient only a little late.”

Ignis nodded and got up from his desk. He’d finish his paper work once he’d helped out in the kitchen. He probably wouldn’t be needed to help with everything just the special dishes. He was use to cooking with minimal assistance so hopefully he wouldn’t get under anyone’s feet, or him under theirs. However it should mean he wouldn’t be too late to Noct’s. He decided to text him anyway to let him know he would be running late. As he headed to the kitchens the girl with him reached into her own pocket and fumbled with her phone. A look of relief came over her.

“Sir we have extra time. The person ordering needs to delay the order.” She smiled at him and he gave her a smile back.

That was fortuitous. It meant less rushing and upon seeing the menu ordered it was very much a relief. While he had not intended for his evening to involve cooking the relief on all the staff’s faces was clear. He rolled up his sleeves and put on an apron; Scientia to the rescue.

As he continued to prepare the items he became quite jealous. A lot of the things on the menu were his favourites. There were other things too but he couldn’t help a little twinge in his heart. Sure he had agreed to Noct’s plan to order food in but when he cooked himself he could have items done exactly how he best enjoyed them. He noticed some of the menu items had requests for certain vegetables to be left out and wondered if there was a child at the home of whoever had ordered this meal. Then his thoughts turned to Noctis and he wondered where he would be ordering from exactly. There were plenty of nice places that did delivery this time of year but maybe he would have picked fast food – not that fast food couldn’t be nice. He doubted he’d order from the Citadel kitchens but he still snuck a look at the order list. Their was no Noct on it or Gladio, or even Prompto for that matter. However there was an anonymous – which was the order they were fulfilling. Apparently it would be picked up at the gates rather than delivered. Perhaps it was someone’s way back from work. While the Citadel kitchen only really served those in service to the Citadel and Anonymous must have had a special Citadel code to make the order, temporary codes were given out as part of a lottery this time of year. These lottery winners were often just typed in as anonymous, lottery or their house number. Heck it could even be one of the workers wanting to surprise his colleagues without letting on. Seeing as a fair number of people would have seen the orders and word could spread quickly in the Citadel. It would be a pain for a surprise to be ruined just because someone in the kitchens let slip to the wrong person, who was ordering food enough for a party that day.

Putting it out of his mind Ignis got back to work. At least being able to taste test some of his favourites even if he wasn’t able to steal a portion for himself. He’d enjoy what ever Noct ordered simply because he would be eating with friends. Also it would be rude to be full before a party or to have alternate food squirrelled away. Soon enough he was free from the sudden kitchen duty as the rest of the staff could see to the rest. It had eaten a decent amount of his time but he would still be at Noct’s by the new time he had set. He just had to finish some paper work, change – he’d kept a fresh outfit in his office in case he ran late – and head over to Noct’s. Still he was much more tried than he would have been and the sudden kitchen work had been rather stressful even with the extra hands. Rubbing his temples and grabbing a can of Ebony from the Armiger – he was always thankful he had access at all times to that thing – he sat back down to finish his paper work. He was still curious about who was receiving the order but he wasn’t about to go peaking to see who was collecting the food. He simply didn’t have time even for his curiosity. He needed to focus on work.

*

Done and without a moment to spare Ignis arrived at Noct’s. He felt warmth returning to his tired body when entered Noctis’ apartment to greeted by his companions and the smell of food. Noctis, Gladio and Prompto gave him a grin before revealing what was in their hands – party poppers. They promptly pulled them and coated Ignis in a dusting of of their contents. Ignis didn’t mind too much though he was a little surprised at the amount of effort they’d gone into decorating the place and the fanfare for his arrival. They usually all pulled poppers together later in the party. As he removed some of the worst paper mess from his hair they finally verbally welcomed him.

“Merry Igmas!” The three of them chimed together.

Ignis was given pause at that and looked in puzzlement at the cheery faces before him. Gladio slapped him on the shoulder.

“Not use to having a party in your name, huh?” Gladio chuckled. His second shoulder pat dislodging some more of the part popper’s insides onto the floor.

Prompto looked giddy, “I think it sounds good. Igmas. Celebrating our Iggy.”

Noctis reached out and handed Ignis a can of Ebony, “You are always bringing up being thankful for those around us and our bonds to them. We are really thankful to have you and you are always doing so much for us… especially me… that well the party this year is more for you. We managed to order some of your favourites.”

Ignis properly took in the food that had been nicely set out by his friends and came to a sudden realisation. Even if he had not memorised the whole order he would have known his own cooking anywhere. Noct was anonymous. Before he could decide if he should say something or not, Noct continued.

“Hopefully it is up to your spec. I realised it would be pretty hard to beat some of the things you make but I really didn’t want give you extra work cooking this year. You even got more work piled onto anyway right. You didn’t say what it was but it sucks that it ate into your time.” Noctis was looking up at Ignis clearly hoping he approved of the food choices.

Ignis couldn’t bring himself to say anything and just plastered a smile on his face. Sure he hadn’t cooked every item there himself but he had essentially still ended up cooking dinner for himself and his friends. Though maybe he would ask the staff for help next year also as it was certainly less tiring working with a team and if they did it regular enough then there would be less stress as they would know how each other worked around the kitchen more intimately. He couldn’t say that he wasn’t annoyed at how fate had played him but at least he was getting to eat the things he had been craving earlier. Perhaps this was punishment for being worried about what Noctis would order.  
“It looks lovely. Let’s dig in.”

They all grabbed a plate, piled on some food and sat down to eat. Ignis was concealing his mixed feelings about having secretly cooked parts on the meal before them quite well. He was thankful to just be with his friends. Sure he’d probably still be a zombie in the morning but he wasn’t about to make things awkward for the others.

Prompto took a mouthful of something Ignis had made and Ignis secretly swelled with pride seeing the look of bliss on his face. Then Prompto said something to put a chill on the party.  
“Mmmm this is as good as what you make Ignis. Have you been giving the Citadel staff pointers?”

Ignis tensed up slightly wondering how to word things then saw Noctis and Gladio had also frozen mid bite of what they were eating. Sure Ignis may have not cooked everything himself but he had also given some instruction as he had been fulfilling the roll of head chef. The pause dragged on and Prompto’s face paled, his eyes going wide and his smile faltering a little. He glanced at Noctis and Gladio who were coming to the same realisation. Ignis was sure he could see a visible gloom starting to creep over the three of them. They’d planned this and accidentally given Ignis more work to do.

Ignis broke the tension by actually laughing, “Well it seems this all backfired didn’t it. Looks like I’m fated to make out festive feast.” He chuckled again, “I didn’t do it all myself this year so it really isn’t so bad.”

Noctis pouted, “But I really didn’t mean for this to happen. I wanted you to have the things you liked but maybe I should have just ordered something else from somewhere else. The Citadel cooks are so good with a range of things I thought… or more I didn’t think that they’d go bother you. Not that you’re not amazing but they have chef that can do all these things.”

Ignis shook his head, “Normally they wouldn’t but as bad luck would have it the person supposed to be working got sick and no one else was available that could fill in.”

Gladio and Prompto were silent feeling bad about their own parts in the plan but glad that Ignis didn’t seem too upset.  
Noctis fiddled with the food on his plate, “I guess it is the thought that matters even though fate went and messed things about. But is there anything we can do to make up for adding to your workload even if it was by accident?”  
The other two nodded in agreement with Noct’s sentiment.

Ignis thought for a moment, “Well first lets finish eating and enjoy our meal together. Then if you don’t mind, I’ll exclude myself from helping with clean up.”

Noctis sighed, “If that is all you want…” and Ignis nodded. Noct then suddenly took on a firm tone. “You do look tired Specs so don’t feel obliged to stay awake while we’re cleaning up. Also you are staying the night. I know you keep spare clothes in both your car and the Armiger. Gladio will grab us all breakfast and you will be on time to work so don’t worry about it. Even if you do some how sleep in we can always bring the work here to you. I did take a look at your scheduled and you don’t have to be inside the Citadel for the work you have lined up tomorrow. Now give hand over your car keys and enjoy more than one drink for once if you like.”

Ignis found himself unable to protest and handed over car keys. With that his friends all smiled and began eating again. He supposed it would be fine to not fret about tomorrow too much. After all he should really focus on the moment. These very special moments with friends.

Once they had finished eating Ignis was left to sit on the couch, while the others cleaned up. There was some small noise from the three of them but mostly there was just the sound of the Divinmas themed music on the radio. Ignis shifted on the sofa and ended up slowly drifting to sleep on it. The knowledge his friends were there helping him drift off peacefully. Tomorrow would be another day with its own worries but right now everything was happy and warm in the world of Ignis Scientia.


End file.
